Pakistan Claims Downing of Two Indian Fighter Jets in Kashmir

Pakistan Claims Downing of Two Indian Fighter Jets in Kashmir

Pakistan says its air forces shot down two Indian warplanes that had flown over its border in the disputed territory of Kashmir Wednesday, VOA news reports.

Pakistani Major General Asif Ghafoor says one of the pilots was captured after his plane crashed in Pakistani-held Kashmir, while the other fighter jet crashed on the Indian side.

So far, there has been no official comment from India about the Pakistani claims, though Indian news media quoted unnamed military officials as saying all Indian pilots have been accounted for.

Islamabad’s announcement of the shoot down coincides with India’s claim that its fighter jets had intercepted three Pakistani fighter jets that flew into the airspace over its territory in Kashmir and turned them away.

The aerial incidents took place hours after Pakistan said at least four people were killed during a mortar attack by Indian troops across the heavily militarized Line of Control.

Tensions have been growing between the nuclear-armed neighbors and rivals since 40 Indian paramilitary forces were killed by a suicide car bomb in Indian Kashmir on February 14. The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack.

Indian warplanes carried out pre-dawn airstrikes in Pakistan Tuesday on a Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp.

The targeting of militant camps is a departure from India’s decades-old policy of restraint born out of fears of triggering an outright conflict. The militant groups are fighting for either Kashmir’s independence or its merger with Pakistan.